Using Copy-write music.

I was thinking perhaps after I complete a map or two, I can start a huge single player RPG project. It will have lots of music, a compelling story, cinematics, a unique combat system, and the whole shabange. While I do make music my self. There are a lot of cool cinematic songs I have from various movies and what not that I thought would be great in a map. But are copy-write laws anything I need to be worrying about?

Yes if the music is copy rihgted don't use it. (If they find out and track you down you are sued)

-Av3n

Well, to check if its copyrighted, at the end of the movie, when the credits come on, if they include the song at near the end of the credits, thats a sign that the music was worth giving credit for, so they probally paid for it, and second, if when the music credits have finished, it says "all music is copyrighted to its respected owners", thats a pretty positive sign thats its copyright.
You could also google the song for coypright and popularity, if you dont find anything that says it anywhere, not on a download site or a cd case, then i wouldent worry about it.

This helps me somewhat as well. Thanks for asking the question, Ghost.X.

I have yet to see anyone suing someone because they used copyrighted material on a non-profit mod/map. It is frowned upon musicians though.

Back when Starcraft was t3h bomb, everyone put songs from other video games, movies, and even metallica, and no one was ever sued. It is just not worth the time for the companies to sue your ass for such trivial thing.

To be honest, i doubt anyone will really care that much about C/W music if you choose to use it. Technically it's wrong, but is it worth getting up-in-arms about? Probably not.

On the other hand, recognizable music (e.g LotR) can often detract from an original map.

Just note that you wouldn't be able to get your map approved here if you use copyrighted music.

Then i assume Creatures of the Night will be losing it's hosted project status...?

And TToA and Shipwrecked, and a lot'o' stuff.

I don't know about hosted projects, but maps are considered "Offensive" for violating copyrights:

So, what are we doing about this? I think that "When the freedom slips away" approved map is also using copyrighted music.